The present invention relates generally to a cryostat microtome.
A cryostat microtome comprises for example a thermally insulated cooling chamber which can be set to a predetermined low temperature by means of a refrigeration unit and which is carried on a support assembly. Disposed in the cooling chamber or enclosure is the microtome apparatus itself. Such arrangements suffer from little or no formation of frozen fog or rime therein, when dealing with objects requiring to be processed by the microtome.
In such microtomes, the cooling enclosure with the microtome integrated therein is supported on a support assembly at a height which permits the arrangement to be operated by an operator either in a sitting position or in a standing position. However, microtomes are pieces of precision equipment for making very thin sections (1 to 15 .mu.m) from hard or frozen tissues and they are often used in particular for making thin sections which are referred to as series sections, that is to say, a series of sections taken from the tissue in question, without gaps or intervals between the sections produced. It will be appreciated that operating such microtomes requires a high level of attention and concentration, so that it is important for the microtome to be in the best possible position relative to the operator.